The world’s COVID-19 response has certainly been a litmus test for how people treat one another. We have had wondrous examples of selflessness when people come together to help one another and we have had the glaring embarrassments of political egos running off the rails. All of these things together are what makes us truly human beings.
After this last year of waiting out so many things on the sidelines, I have made some observations of how the collective “we” have managed our crisis. Some observations surprised me, some frustrated me, and some just bewildered me with their absurdity. You’ve got to enjoy the theater of human interactions.
About Us and COVID-19
Crisis builds character like no other event. Crisis changes how we view the world by giving us a new view or perhaps amplifying an existing one.
Events revolving around COVID-19 have emphasized awareness of social issues. While views about social deficiencies receive the greater amount of press, I think there is an associated growth of altruism. Messages of anger stir emotions. However, it is through activities of caring, and being cared for, that individuals are connected.
Our concern for one another is evidenced in the way most of us live our lives. I can’t imagine people possessing an “always angry” attitude who would not stop to celebrate personal relationships, the birth of a children, or even pause to reflect on a snowy winter night. Ideology does not fulfill a person in the same way as personal interactions.
COVID-19 Response: Protective Measures
We are being beaten over the head with conflicting rules about responding to the pandemic. The result?
COVID-19 continues to progress through the population – pretty much as predicted. A lot of people have become infected with the virus. Some show symptoms and some don’t. Some individuals die as a result of infection, while the large majority of those infected, recover.
That’s it.
The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has some unique medical symptoms. How it moves through the host population (that’s us) has been pretty predictable. That is why things like masks have been useful in controlling the spread to others. Masks are just an infection control tool, not a political statement, by the way.
Note: the filter masks we wear are not for self-protection but are there to protect others around us. How’s that for altruism!
Vaccination Theory
While there is no cure for COVID-19, there are a number of successful preventative treatments. The most well-known treatments are the variety of vaccines currently deployed worldwide. Not 100% effective against the virus but high hopes rest on their effects as the virus goes through the population. Vaccines create an immune response. This reaction is designed to reduce severity of an actual infection with the virus. Importantly though, the vaccinated are still able to contract and transmit the virus. Like I said, not 100%.
This is why even the vaccinated are still required to wear masks and socially distance. Vaccines theoretically help with the resistance of the population to the virus (more people have a milder immune response to the virus) but there is no cure.
The vaccines that are available at this time are still experimental and the healthcare community continues to learn about what the drugs do to individuals as people continue to be vaccinated.
A distressing trend recently though has been to measure success against COVID-19 infections by counting only the number of those who has received the shot(s). Since a majority of those who were infected with the virus recovered with a natural immunity to the virus, this number is often left out of the calculations of the “success” rate against the virus. Then again, truthful information was one of the first casualties of this pandemic.
Better Outcomes
We are doing an amazing job of combating a pandemic that we knew was coming but for which we still did not adequately prepare. Much of the initial panic about the coronavirus was about concerns of overwhelming medical facilities. The thought was that all of us would contract the infection at about the same time.
We dodged that bullet using conservative and radical measures. The economics of the latter actions we can expect to be fixing over many years to come. Still, we got a handle on things.
Since we are learning to control an uncontrollable situation, creativity is one of the best tools we have in our problem-solving kit. Choose any number of solutions for a given problem. Let’s not limit ourselves to only what media outlets choose to promote. We do have control over our response to the situation. Fear and anger wear down our immune systems, so stepping away from those messages benefits both your physical and mental Health.
Observe the reminders shared by flight crews over the years and take care of yourself first, then take care of others. Kindness goes a long way too.
And remember to ignore the trolls!
We don’t study Nature, Nature studies us!
― Somya Kedia
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